The Toys
for Tots Program originated in 1947 when a group of Marine Reservists
collected and distributed five thousand holiday toys to needy children
in Los Angeles. Since then, the program has become a nationally
recognized charity, making more than one-hundred-eighty million
underprivileged children smile on Christmas Day.

To donate to
The Toys for Tots Program, drop off a new, unwrapped toy at any
Massachusetts State Police Barracks, Boston Fire Department, Toys "R"
Us, or Babies "R" Us. For alternate drop off locations, or to make an
online donation, visit the charities website at Toysfortots.org.

If
you'd like your donation to help a family in the area, Toys for Local
Children, (TLC) is a Somerville based charity that supports local
families. Bring your unwrapped toys to the Somerville Fire Station, the
Boston Sports Club in Davis Square, East Cambridge Savings Bank on
Highland Avenue, or any of the City of Somerville Municipal Buildings.
If you'd rather make a monetary donation, checks should be made payable
to Toys for Local Children, and sent to TLC – P.O. Box 45406
Somerville, MA 02145. For more information, go to
www.toysforlocalchildren.org.

Are you a parent that would like
to receive gifts for your children? Fill out an application form online
by December 12th for TLC. To work with the Toys for Tots Program, get
in touch with your social worker or Pastor, and keep in mind their
deadline of December 4th.

Thanksgiving
is a day that always goes as planned. The meal is prepared and the
family sits down and eats, engages in cheerful banter and everyone goes
home fulfilled. Each family member gets along with one another and
everything is wonderful. Not always.

For some reason,
Thanksgiving is the perfect time for the unexpected, the un-scheduled
and the unbelievable to happen. Thanksgiving is the stuff (or stuffing)
television shows are made of.

Here is "Season 1 of Thanksgiving, the sitcom." All of these stories are true, and happened to some of my Somerville friends.

–
I remember growing up with a thawing turkey in the tub. I would go to
brush my teeth only to find a giant frozen turkey in the tub! This went
on every year, and I was always oddly amused by it.

– Back in
the day, because your refrigerator only held so much, you would store
some of the Thanksgiving items in the back hall or on the back porch.
One year we had an unseasonably warm week, causing the neighbors' apple
cider to turn.

– We bought a fresh turkey from a specialty store
– well at about 3 o'clock on Thanksgiving morning, we got a phone call
from the store that the turkeys were bad. I asked how we could tell,
and they said when you open it, it will smell like rotten eggs. So we
went to the kitchen and opened it and the STENCH could have knocked you
out. Luckily this store opened up on Thanksgiving morning and replaced
the turkeys for all its customers and our dinner was saved.

–
One year we had a house full of dinner guests and my husband had
sharpened the knives before carving because he wanted to look like the
TV shows where you see the husband carve perfectly even pieces at the
beautiful dining room table…well the knife was certainly very sharp
when it slipped and sliced his finger. Embarrassed and intent on not
ruining everyone's else's day, he wrapped his finger in paper towels
and went to the emergency room. When he got there were five other men
sitting there with their fingers wrapped in paper towels.

– My
folks didn't know the turkey was still frozen until they went to put it
in the oven. All hell broke loose between my mother and father. The
grocery stores were all closed and we couldn't even find a pound of
hamburger. We searched through all the kitchen shelves only to come up
with a canned ham. Moral of the story: always keep a canned ham on hand
as a backup plan.

– My family has a few horror stories. The exploding chestnuts is my favorite.

–
I remember more than a few Thanksgivings at my house where you (Jimmy)
would fall asleep on the couch for an hour with a full glass of beer
and never spill a drop!

– One year at my in-laws we all sat down
for this great meal that my father in-law made. First he carved the
bird in the kitchen and started to bring the rest of the food into the
dining room. He stopped to talk to us and we heard a crash. Running
into the kitchen we found that the dog had pulled the turkey off the
table and was eating it!

– We were at my in-laws house for a few
hours getting things ready when someone mentioned there was no turkey
smell. Mom-in-law forgot to turn on the oven. Dinner was served around
8-9pm.

– How about having to dress up like a bleeping Pilgrim to
twirl a baton at the Thanksgiving Day game? Complete with pilgrim hat?
Doesn't get much more humiliating than that.

– Living in an
apartment in Somerville many years ago, we didn't know the oven had a
timer, as I had never cooked anything in the oven longer than 1 hour.
About 3 hours after putting turkey in oven, I went to check on it, only
to find the timer had shut the oven off…good thing us Italians always
have a pasta meal along with turkey. We had lasagna for Thanksgiving
dinner with mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, peas and cranberry
sauce. File that one under "Ciao down!"

– We had ham and turkey
one year. My brother cooked the ham and brought it with him. As the day
wore on and the ham grew smaller and smaller we discovered a few tree
leaves on the bottom. Turns out dear brother placed the ham in the pan
on the railing on his porch. It fell into a bed of leaves. He picked it
up, put it back in the pan and obviously did NOT check to see if there
were any leaves on it. We joked and said the maple leaves flavored the
ham.

– We had an old tomcat named Sam who liked to hunt
sparrows. Well, one Thanksgiving Sam decided to join us. The back door
was open to let some of the heat out of the kitchen, and in comes Sam
through a hole in the screen door with his own bird! I can still
remember my mother yelling: "Get that G.D. cat out of the kitchen!"

– A friend of mine told me that her uncle got mad and tossed the turkey off the third floor porch.

Let's
hope nothing like that happens this year. Alcoholic beverages + waiting
for food to be served + in-laws + being in a hot, noisy, crowded house
for hours = a dampening of some people's festive mood. Let's hope
everyone's feast can be a happy episode of Thanksgiving, the sitcom.

Thanks
to those of you who shared your Thanksgiving memories with me. So this
Thanksgiving, we will loosen our belts, watch football and fall asleep
in front of the TV – creating a chorus of snoring. Some of us men will
probably also do that! If I was one of those guys, I would usually wake
up grumpy and thirsty, but still thankful. I am thankful for the
memories of those Thanksgiving Days gone by, and grateful for the ones
we are lucky enough to enjoying this year.

I will return to
Amelia's kitchen in Teele Square on Thursday, Dec 3rd for music,
macaroni and mayhem. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Each Thanksgiving, volunteers are sought
because the program's regular drivers have that day off. Normally,
about 700 meals are normally delivered on a daily basis.

Included
in the organization's Thanksgiving meal, one will find the contents of
a "traditional" holiday dinner — complete with turkey, stuffing,
mashed potatoes, squash, a roll, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie —
although, should an individual require a specific diet, he or she will
be accommodated.

For the most part, SCES's clients are, at
least, 60 years of age, although, the number of younger individuals who
are receiving services, is on the rise. More than 2,500 people, in
various programs and 4,400 callers, were assisted last year.

"All of our clients have challenges that require assistance so they can live independently," said Dalton.

Currently,
"a number of meals that address specific medical and dietary needs" are
available, through SCES. Such options include: diabetic, cardiac, low
renal, high renal, low lactose, as well as "meals for people who need
their food to be a certain consistency, such as chopped, ground [or]
pureed," she said.

At present, a vegetarian dietary option is
non-existent because the organization, "There is not a very big demand.
However, we anticipate that the demand will increase in the future, at
which time, we would probably add that option, as well," said Dalton.

Beginning in the early 1970s, SCES has operated akin programs in Somerville and Cambridge.

A
private, non-profit organization, SCES is a state-designated, Aging
Services Access Point (ASAP) — as well as a federally-designated Area
Agency on Aging (AAA). Moreover, several SCES programs are available in
Greater Boston.

The organization "strives to enable older
adults and younger people with disabilities to remain living in their
own or their families' homes, for as long as they choose to do so,
through services such as homemaking, personal care, transportation,
personal emergency response systems, shopping and meal delivery," said
Dalton.

Also available are "opportunities for people to improve
their health and well-being, by participating in evidence-based,
disease prevention programs."

In the future, "We would like to
enhance our capacity to address our client's mental health needs, by
providing in home mental health services," said Dalton. Interested
individuals may contact SCES at (617)-628-2601 or eldercare.org.

Holloway spent most of his law enforcement career in
Clearwater before being chosen as Somerville's police chief in 2007.
The four finalists, including chiefs from Orlando, Dallas and Colorado,
will return to Clearwater in mid-December to sit down with city council
members for an interview.

Current Clearwater Police Chief Sid
Klein, who has served in the position since 1981, will retire in
February after a successor is chosen.

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The Cambridge
Health Alliance (CHA) is partnering with the American Red Cross to host
a blood drive for the Somerville community at CHA's Somerville Hospital
campus Monday, November 30th from 10am to 3pm in the hospital
cafeteria.

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Is Chief Holloway staying or
will he go to work back in Clearwater Florida at his old department –
but this time around as their new Police Chief? We hear from sources
down in the Clearwater area that the current Chief has decided to delay
his retirement till after the holidays – and the decision of who will
be picked is narrowed down to only a couple.

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The
Cambridge Weekly News website started a few weeks back very quietly,
but you'll be hearing and seeing it taking root in Cambridge – as more
and more local people over there have jumped on board and there are
more to come. We will have some good news to shout about coming up in
January over there and possibly another community as well. Don't worry,
The Somerville News will still only be Somerville news, but you can go
online to view the Cambridge site – www.cambridgenewsweekly.com

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Chamber
of Commerce Business After Hours event will be held from 5pm to 7pm on
Thursday, December 3rd at Sagra Restaurant Bar & Café at 400
Highland Avenue, Davis Square. Come one and all to support the
Chamber's hard work and their efforts to keep Somerville businesses on
the move and thriving.

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On the Best of
Somerville 2009, the cook at Ball Square Café РOmar Djebbouri is
absolutely one of the best around Рand his food is top notch. The Café
had some visits by some Newstalkers recently, sampling the breakfast –
which if you haven't been, the wait in line is worth it – and oh, by
the way, say hi to Patty Oppedisano – she's the waitress of the year as
well. Patty has the best smiles and she's so pleasant. Great place to
take the family on Thanksgiving Day morning breakfast, we'll see you
there.

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Holiday seasons, we hope you will
remember the underprivileged children around Somerville by wrapping up
a new toy and dropping it off a West Somerville Dental Office located
at 124 College Avenue. They are collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots"
program.

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